Estimation of bearing capacity and failure mechanism of footing strip using upper bound limit analysis

Abstract

In this paper, we used numerical upper bound limit analysis procedure to estimate the bearing capacity and failure mechanism of footing strip, especially considering the influence of internal friction angle on failure mechanism. An upper bound limit analysis formulation based on well-known Morh- coulomb failure criterion and the associated flow rule is described. The kinematically admissible velocity fields were approximated using edge-based smoothed finite element method (ES-FEM). The discrete formulation based on the strain smoothing technique over smoothing domains associated with the edges of the elements is then obtained. The upper bound limit analysis formulation becomes an optimization problem, which is then formulated as a standard second-order cone programming (SOCP) problem. Using a state-of-the-art SOCP code developed by mathematical researchers, large- scale problems in engineering practice can be solved efficiently.